How do you invest in Vietnam real estate?

panda7 wrote:

You are better off renting and sleeping peacefully at night...

I wish I could convince my wife of that.  She hates that we are "throwing away" money on rent.

phikachu wrote:

Came across this and reminded me of what you were saying about Portugal being the easiest.

That's the reason all countries have drastically cut down the number of Golden Visa issued to Chinese.  Unless the applicant is willing to invest more than the minimum requirement, it's now harder for Chinese to apply for Golden Visa than citizens of many other country. 

The Chinese woman who had to wait for the investment to return to her before she could shop for a house would have a much more difficult time to apply for the visa now than someone who, for instance, can afford 250K € long term deposit in the bank, 500,000 € in an approved commercial investment, and 300k € home.

I bought property back in my country instead of investing in VN because:

- given the low quality of buildings in VN  it would make me feel uncomfortable to hand my hard-earned cash for a subpar product

-  the laws of property ownership in VN are too unclear

Just remember 2 things: first is the limitation, 50 years for foreigners to own a property in Vietnam, you can renew afterward but the law has just been in practice recently so no one is sure about that. second is verification, just verify all the related paperwork (usually pink book) with the ward committee.

Montey La Fant wrote:

Just remember 2 things: first is the limitation, 50 years for foreigners to own a property in Vietnam, you can renew afterward but the law has just been in practice recently so no one is sure about that. second is verification, just verify all the related paperwork (usually pink book) with the ward committee.

You can buy SPA condos now.  That is 99 years.  I visited one recently that offered SPA purchases to foreigners.

SteinNebraska wrote:

panda7 wrote:

You are better off renting and sleeping peacefully at night...

I wish I could convince my wife of that.  She hates that we are "throwing away" money on rent.

Ugh.  The fallacy of "throwing your money away on rent".  What about the cost of maintaining?  The cost of buying furniture and interior design.  There are all kind of costs associated with owning a home that you never get back.  The money you put into your home could be earning 7-9% a year in a Vanguard total market fund.  Would that be enough to pay for your rent?  These are the same questions I am currently dealing with.  I, too, want to buy.

9% return from Vanguard on a 300k condo is about $27k a year.  That is a lot of condo you could rent.

sflxn wrote:

SteinNebraska wrote:

panda7 wrote:

You are better off renting and sleeping peacefully at night...

I wish I could convince my wife of that.  She hates that we are "throwing away" money on rent.

Ugh.  The fallacy of "throwing your money away on rent".  What about the cost of maintaining?  The cost of buying furniture and interior design.  There are all kind of costs associated with owning a home that you never get back.  The money you put into your home could be earning 7-9% a year in a Vanguard total market fund.  Would that be enough to pay for your rent?  These are the same questions I am currently dealing with.  I, too, want to buy.

9% return from Vanguard on a 300k condo is about $27k a year.  That is a lot of condo you could rent.

Do you receive privisions from Vanguard?

I will not put a penny in assets at the moment, although there are people who say that the rally could last until the end of 2020.

AkaMaverick wrote:

Do you receive privisions from Vanguard?

I will not put a penny in assets at the moment, although there are people who say that the rally could last until the end of 2020.

There is one important distinction between investing in Vietnamese real estate and relatively stable index funds on the NY or other major exchanges.  With exchange traded funds (ETFs), after you run up a small margin, you can place a stop loss order.  This will automatically generate a sale if the fund drops below a certain point.  You can't do that with your apartment. 

Put another way, funds are liquid and homes are illiquid.  We lived in a rented apartment for nearly three years from '12-'15.  We were the first and only tenants before the place sold just as we were planning to leave anyway.  It was for sale the entire time we lived there and dropped from an original purchase price of about 25K, US$ equivalent, to about 17K.   In the same period, the S&P 500 went from about $1200 to $3000, a rise of 150%.  The apartment owners were a nice young couple from Thu Duc and I really felt rather sorry for them.

THIGV wrote:

AkaMaverick wrote:

Do you receive privisions from Vanguard?

I will not put a penny in assets at the moment, although there are people who say that the rally could last until the end of 2020.

There is one important distinction between investing in Vietnamese real estate and relatively stable index funds on the NY or other major exchanges.  With exchange traded funds (ETFs), after you run up a small margin, you can place a stop loss order.  This will automatically generate a sale if the fund drops below a certain point.  You can't do that with your apartment. 

Put another way, funds are liquid and homes are illiquid.  We lived in a rented apartment for nearly three years from '12-'15.  We were the first and only tenants before the place sold just as we were planning to leave anyway.  It was for sale the entire time we lived there and dropped from an original purchase price of about 25K, US$ equivalent, to about 17K.   In the same period, the S&P 500 went from about $1200 to $3000, a rise of 150%.  The apartment owners were a nice young couple from Thu Duc and I really felt rather sorry for them.

I quite agree.
But I will only invest in the stock market again when the current bubble has burst.
I'm as well in the process of moving my money. I'll be reinvested at the new place.

But I am not so money-grubbing. If I make a few percent profit that is enough for me. On the other hand I hate to lose money with fees. Therefore I move my money from Switzerland.

I like to live stress-free.
This is also why I never invest in real estate, especially not in Vietnam.
I bought land for my own use to be able to do what I want within the boundary wall and to give my child a base.
And if it would become too stupid for me here in the countryside in the future (crime, constant waste incineration, governmental sounding of loudspeaker columns at 5 o'clock in the morning), I could sell everything already today with a big profit.

I believe there are real and fakes.

Lucky for me enough as so far everything went well for me.

I been investing in land and even houses at Vinhomes Central Park and Saigon.

Interested i dont mind sharing.

Interesting article about Vingroup.

Vingroup

2008 20120 I paid for the building of 2 houses out in the sticks,(wife owned the land) when we sold them made no profit on them but did not loose on the build price either apart from interest I could have had on the money in the bank at that time at least 12% so it was a loss.

2014/15  bought 2 bed apartment Q12 off plan & stepped payments 1.7 billion.
2016 bought a second apartment for rental income exactly same size etc & same block but finished ready to move in so full payment paid of 1.85 billion.

2016 second apartment rented out for 12 mil per month.No break in rental.
2017 rented out the first apartment for 12mil per month.No break in rental.

sold both apartments first quarter 2019 for 2.2 billion.

The expert accountants here can work out all the sums, tax paid, agents fees to sell, agents fee for rental contracts, interest lost for money that could have been in the bank etc etc etc. But all I know is that we ended up in what I consider as good profit for this investment.

On the other hand & as a word of caution about buying off plan.........I know an American guy living in my apartment block who bought 2 apartments off plan in a development just down the road, highly recommended by a agent working on the black. That apartment block has been sitting half completed now for at least 3 years with no progress, site & everything inside all locked up & from what I hear the builder has done a runner & all the owners have lost all their money & will never get it back.   he no lucky!!

Well I do not doubt your figures the, but the merits of such an investment considering the elevated risk
( witness your friend down the road who lost everything) and the returns you state are not good in relative terms ( say if you had the same opportunity to invest in RE in America. Your stated rent receipts were 24 m vnd a month. When in RE investing we expect a 1% return on our investment per month. In your case you invested 35b vnd in the two properties. On that you should have received gross rents of 35m a month. So from 2016-2017 until now that is  somewhere around 3-4 years or 36-48 months were you lost 11m vnd a month in lost rental income . So on the low end about 400m vnd of lost income alone from rent. If I understand you correctly you sold each apartment for 2.2 b vnd or a combined 4.4b vnd for a gross profit of 1 B vnd. The amount of your original purchase, about 3.5BVND would have yielded 21m vnd qa year in a 6% time account each year. Not accounting for compounding that would have yielded you  36m vnd. Taking compounding into account it would have yielded the intial 35b vnd would have grown to a tad over 4.17b vnd. Being happy with an investment sometimes involves what you do not know. But thanks for sharing. It amplifies the point I have been making for almost 10 years now in VN. If you add in all the other risk, to me it a hazardous  journey. But much depends on the investment opportunities available to any given person. But anyone can invest in American real estate. Only the tax consequences are different.

Diazo wrote:

Well I do not doubt your figures the, but the merits of such an investment considering the elevated risk
( witness your friend down the road who lost everything) and the returns you state are not good in relative terms ( say if you had the same opportunity to invest in RE in America. Your stated rent receipts were 24 m vnd a month. When in RE investing we expect a 1% return on our investment per month. In your case you invested 35b vnd in the two properties. On that you should have received gross rents of 35m a month. So from 2016-2017 until now that is  somewhere around 3-4 years or 36-48 months were you lost 11m vnd a month in lost rental income . So on the low end about 400m vnd of lost income alone from rent. If I understand you correctly you sold each apartment for 2.2 b vnd or a combined 4.4b vnd for a gross profit of 1 B vnd. The amount of your original purchase, about 3.5BVND would have yielded 21m vnd qa year in a 6% time account each year. Not accounting for compounding that would have yielded you  36m vnd. Taking compounding into account it would have yielded the intial 35b vnd would have grown to a tad over 4.17b vnd. Being happy with an investment sometimes involves what you do not know. But thanks for sharing. It amplifies the point I have been making for almost 10 years now in VN. If you add in all the other risk, to me it a hazardous  journey. But much depends on the investment opportunities available to any given person. But anyone can invest in American real estate. Only the tax consequences are different.

Thats why we invest in vacant land. No ongoing rates, very little tax, and on average we have increased about 30-50 % per year. We bought two blocks in the countryside last year, now 8 months later we can sell at a 50% profit. Of course, this is never as easy as it sounds, but doing some research always helps. We only buy blocks in small towns or rural areas.

My father inlaw's land has increased 2000 % in 25 years, very good gains if you can get it.

The facts become convoluted the longer the time period become and the mere facts. As Colinscope stated “ we can sell it for 50% profit”. Could and have are very different. I think my bride is worth a million and I can sell her for that. But currently no one has come forward with my dream price. So until the documents are signed and the money is in the bank we still own the bride and the land.
As we sometimes say the devil is in the details. A 2005 percent profit over 25 years sounds good. But what are the figures we base that on. And have we calculated inflation over the last 25 years.. For example gtge inflation rate in 1987 in VN was 360%, in 1988 somewhat better, 374%, 1992 37.7%. 2008 23.1, 2011 18.6%. Those rates alone could play havoc on your your calculation of profit. And again, has he sold the property for that? If we knew all the numbers we could better determine if something is a wise investment. As most could see there is substantial currency risk alone. When we weigh any investment we must look at real returns against risk. The higher the risk the higher the returns expected. As the previous gentlemen stated, he had virtually zero return or probably even a loss, for what potential return/risk reward. I would say the average player here is in way over their heads. Just one persons opinion. And you know what they say about opinions... they are like rectums, everyone has one.

Diazo wrote:

Well I do not doubt your figures the, but the merits of such an investment considering the elevated risk
( witness your friend down the road who lost everything) and the returns you state are not good in relative terms ( say if you had the same opportunity to invest in RE in America. Your stated rent receipts were 24 m vnd a month. When in RE investing we expect a 1% return on our investment per month. In your case you invested 35b vnd in the two properties. On that you should have received gross rents of 35m a month. So from 2016-2017 until now that is  somewhere around 3-4 years or 36-48 months were you lost 11m vnd a month in lost rental income . So on the low end about 400m vnd of lost income alone from rent. If I understand you correctly you sold each apartment for 2.2 b vnd or a combined 4.4b vnd for a gross profit of 1 B vnd. The amount of your original purchase, about 3.5BVND would have yielded 21m vnd qa year in a 6% time account each year. Not accounting for compounding that would have yielded you  36m vnd. Taking compounding into account it would have yielded the intial 35b vnd would have grown to a tad over 4.17b vnd. Being happy with an investment sometimes involves what you do not know. But thanks for sharing. It amplifies the point I have been making for almost 10 years now in VN. If you add in all the other risk, to me it a hazardous  journey. But much depends on the investment opportunities available to any given person. But anyone can invest in American real estate. Only the tax consequences are different.

I agree with everything you have said & laid it down & explained for me very well, thanks.

Totally agree with the risk factor too & my experience with sales agents here is basically they are a bunch of crooks & actually you dont even know if you are actually dealing with the official agent or just someone on the make!!
By the way & on an even more negative note the rental figures I need to explain & clarify, because we did not get 12 months rent cos the agent took 1 months each year commission!!


I have a story about some property I went to see this week, advertised on FB at 2.8 billion & 30 minutes from Tan Son Nat airport, well when I got there with the agent (turned out free lancer on the black) & after a long story too long to tell, the property advertised on FB was actually 3.5 billion & was at least 1hour 30 min from the airport. There is actually even more to this story but I wont bore you with the details but when I said I was not interested & left. That night on my messenger they came back to say they had made a mistake & the house was 2.8 & please come back.......I just blocked them!!

Thanks for sharing. We need more stories such as this shared. Sometimes the rate of return on money under a mattress is far better than any other investment. But never forget most investments are losing money to inflation always. So your true yield is diluted by that amount...to what we refer to as true yield. But we should be a bit thankful for inflation and glad we do not have many times such as deflation. Deflation such as Japan went through for years. Hard to reverse deflation. The affects are that people put off buying even the essentials until they absolutely must. As everything will ve cheaper tomorrow. One thing all should consider here in VN is the government has little ability to stimulate the economy as, say, America did with quantitative easing. This is due to the fact that the dollar is the mandatory currency for international settlement. Simply put when a cargo ship unloads at a port the goods must be paid for in dollars. So everyone must buy American bonds in order to pay for this cargo. They do not pay in VND thus when the economy need to be stimulated VN can not do a lot. Herein lies some of the risk.
You see so many on here that bought at X amount and COULD sell at this amount. Giving them a return in their dreams that is great. But in reality they made zero profit and zero return. And keep in mind when you decide to invest in a time deposit here that it is insured for about $3,000. A huge risk when most VNese banks are insolvent. Insolvent because they became heavily invested in real estate that is not carried on their books as non-performing loans 9 meaning the borrow has defaulted. But good luck to all searching for riches. I think the world would be swarming to VN if one could truly make these types of returns. Why aren’t they.....maybe they are not as smart as us and have not figured it out yet!!!!

Diazo wrote:

The facts become convoluted the longer the time period become and the mere facts. As Colinscope stated “ we can sell it for 50% profit”. Could and have are very different. I think my bride is worth a million and I can sell her for that. But currently no one has come forward with my dream price. So until the documents are signed and the money is in the bank we still own the bride and the land.
As we sometimes say the devil is in the details. A 2005 percent profit over 25 years sounds good. But what are the figures we base that on. And have we calculated inflation over the last 25 years.. For example gtge inflation rate in 1987 in VN was 360%, in 1988 somewhat better, 374%, 1992 37.7%. 2008 23.1, 2011 18.6%. Those rates alone could play havoc on your your calculation of profit. And again, has he sold the property for that? If we knew all the numbers we could better determine if something is a wise investment. As most could see there is substantial currency risk alone. When we weigh any investment we must look at real returns against risk. The higher the risk the higher the returns expected. As the previous gentlemen stated, he had virtually zero return or probably even a loss, for what potential return/risk reward. I would say the average player here is in way over their heads. Just one persons opinion. And you know what they say about opinions... they are like rectums, everyone has one.

Could have sold it for 50% profit, why didnt I, Nova Land is going to build a huge garden villa resort taking up about 1klm of beach front land.

Why sell for 50% when 100% can be obtained by next year. Do the maths, its not rocket science.

As usual you are in love with inflation figures and not cold hard cash.

Diazo wrote:

Thanks for sharing. We need more stories such as this shared. Sometimes the rate of return on money under a mattress is far better than any other investment. But never forget most investments are losing money to inflation always. So your true yield is diluted by that amount...to what we refer to as true yield. But we should be a bit thankful for inflation and glad we do not have many times such as deflation. Deflation such as Japan went through for years. Hard to reverse deflation. The affects are that people put off buying even the essentials until they absolutely must. As everything will ve cheaper tomorrow. One thing all should consider here in VN is the government has little ability to stimulate the economy as, say, America did with quantitative easing. This is due to the fact that the dollar is the mandatory currency for international settlement. Simply put when a cargo ship unloads at a port the goods must be paid for in dollars. So everyone must buy American bonds in order to pay for this cargo. They do not pay in VND thus when the economy need to be stimulated VN can not do a lot. Herein lies some of the risk.
You see so many on here that bought at X amount and COULD sell at this amount. Giving them a return in their dreams that is great. But in reality they made zero profit and zero return. And keep in mind when you decide to invest in a time deposit here that it is insured for about $3,000. A huge risk when most VNese banks are insolvent. Insolvent because they became heavily invested in real estate that is not carried on their books as non-performing loans 9 meaning the borrow has defaulted. But good luck to all searching for riches. I think the world would be swarming to VN if one could truly make these types of returns. Why aren’t they.....maybe they are not as smart as us and have not figured it out yet!!!!

I like your logic & agree about perceived property values here. The value is when the cash is in the bank, not what someone tells you its worth.
I remember being at a business lunch in Singapore one time & one of the company regional managers was from Indonesia & was telling us all about how his Palm Oil Farm was worth 2mil usd. Oh I said are you selling it then, yes he said its been on the market for 2 years now! so I said but if its been on the market for 2 years at 2 mil usd how do you make that evaluation. He just looked at me & said "cos thats what its worth"......

goodolboy wrote:

Diazo wrote:

Thanks for sharing. We need more stories such as this shared. Sometimes the rate of return on money under a mattress is far better than any other investment. But never forget most investments are losing money to inflation always. So your true yield is diluted by that amount...to what we refer to as true yield. But we should be a bit thankful for inflation and glad we do not have many times such as deflation. Deflation such as Japan went through for years. Hard to reverse deflation. The affects are that people put off buying even the essentials until they absolutely must. As everything will ve cheaper tomorrow. One thing all should consider here in VN is the government has little ability to stimulate the economy as, say, America did with quantitative easing. This is due to the fact that the dollar is the mandatory currency for international settlement. Simply put when a cargo ship unloads at a port the goods must be paid for in dollars. So everyone must buy American bonds in order to pay for this cargo. They do not pay in VND thus when the economy need to be stimulated VN can not do a lot. Herein lies some of the risk.
You see so many on here that bought at X amount and COULD sell at this amount. Giving them a return in their dreams that is great. But in reality they made zero profit and zero return. And keep in mind when you decide to invest in a time deposit here that it is insured for about $3,000. A huge risk when most VNese banks are insolvent. Insolvent because they became heavily invested in real estate that is not carried on their books as non-performing loans 9 meaning the borrow has defaulted. But good luck to all searching for riches. I think the world would be swarming to VN if one could truly make these types of returns. Why aren’t they.....maybe they are not as smart as us and have not figured it out yet!!!!

I like your logic & agree about perceived property values here. The value is when the cash is in the bank, not what someone tells you its worth.
I remember being at a business lunch in Singapore one time & one of the company regional managers was from Indonesia & was telling us all about how his Palm Oil Farm was worth 2mil usd. Oh I said are you selling it then, yes he said its been on the market for 2 years now! so I said but if its been on the market for 2 years at 2 mil usd how do you make that evaluation. He just looked at me & said "cos thats what its worth"......

Agree, what someone perceives it to be worth and what you get are two different things.

colinoscapee wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

Diazo wrote:

Thanks for sharing. We need more stories such as this shared. Sometimes the rate of return on money under a mattress is far better than any other investment. But never forget most investments are losing money to inflation always. So your true yield is diluted by that amount...to what we refer to as true yield. But we should be a bit thankful for inflation and glad we do not have many times such as deflation. Deflation such as Japan went through for years. Hard to reverse deflation. The affects are that people put off buying even the essentials until they absolutely must. As everything will ve cheaper tomorrow. One thing all should consider here in VN is the government has little ability to stimulate the economy as, say, America did with quantitative easing. This is due to the fact that the dollar is the mandatory currency for international settlement. Simply put when a cargo ship unloads at a port the goods must be paid for in dollars. So everyone must buy American bonds in order to pay for this cargo. They do not pay in VND thus when the economy need to be stimulated VN can not do a lot. Herein lies some of the risk.
You see so many on here that bought at X amount and COULD sell at this amount. Giving them a return in their dreams that is great. But in reality they made zero profit and zero return. And keep in mind when you decide to invest in a time deposit here that it is insured for about $3,000. A huge risk when most VNese banks are insolvent. Insolvent because they became heavily invested in real estate that is not carried on their books as non-performing loans 9 meaning the borrow has defaulted. But good luck to all searching for riches. I think the world would be swarming to VN if one could truly make these types of returns. Why aren’t they.....maybe they are not as smart as us and have not figured it out yet!!!!

I like your logic & agree about perceived property values here. The value is when the cash is in the bank, not what someone tells you its worth.
I remember being at a business lunch in Singapore one time & one of the company regional managers was from Indonesia & was telling us all about how his Palm Oil Farm was worth 2mil usd. Oh I said are you selling it then, yes he said its been on the market for 2 years now! so I said but if its been on the market for 2 years at 2 mil usd how do you make that evaluation. He just looked at me & said "cos thats what its worth"......

Agree, what someone perceives it to be worth and what you get are two different things.

Thing is I am not disputing you figures on the land you have, you have hit the jackpot that everyone is looking for with a major development going ahead on part of your property, same thing happens in every country in those circumstances. (I bought my first house in Abdn for 12,000gbp then the oil came & 25 years later I sold it for 500,000gbp) But certainly in my case investing in the country here never worked out, even although the first house & a love hotel we had built was less that 2 km from a fn huge & I mean huge Industrial Estate that went up at same time. Now from what I heard the rice farmers that owned the land ....some of them became rich overnight but some from what I heard got no compensation, but did get new houses given them off the government.

Took a run out to where I used to live at Trang Bang the other week & where the first house was built. Right next to the house there is a piece of land same size as the one our house was built on think about  5meters x 50mtrs so inquired about it....for sale at 12,ooousd. My wife paid 10,000usd for her plot like 14 years ago, so very little increase in land value there & like I say less that 2km from a huge industrial estate!

Woulda, coulda, shoulda is not cold hard cash, nor is it profit or a return on investment. I hear tell we COULD make a 1000% return next year. But then too the government has created a fund to buy up the banks non-performing loans also. Once the government buys up those loans they MUST dump them on the market. Now which property would you prefer to buy, the one from a private owner for 200k or the one for 50k from the government for the same property? Ah heck there went my great profit and now I am at a huge loss. Won’t happen here? Yeah it never happens in your own backyard. I saw many who owned 500k homes auctioned off for 80k. Now how much of a loss is that. Listen I hear you all. It is a money making machine here that defies economics reality. I must say I do not understand it... why when economies around the world crash VN keeps thriving. Someday I will understand what you all have mastered already. Those profits you CAN get next year IF you find a buyer. In the meantime you have dream profits. Good luck and I hope you make a ton. I was once a financial planner and charged big money to advice people on their investments. I quit because no one ever listens.

goodolboy wrote:

colinoscapee wrote:

goodolboy wrote:

I like your logic & agree about perceived property values here. The value is when the cash is in the bank, not what someone tells you its worth.
I remember being at a business lunch in Singapore one time & one of the company regional managers was from Indonesia & was telling us all about how his Palm Oil Farm was worth 2mil usd. Oh I said are you selling it then, yes he said its been on the market for 2 years now! so I said but if its been on the market for 2 years at 2 mil usd how do you make that evaluation. He just looked at me & said "cos thats what its worth"......

Agree, what someone perceives it to be worth and what you get are two different things.

Thing is I am not disputing you figures on the land you have, you have hit the jackpot that everyone is looking for with a major development going ahead on part of your property, same thing happens in every country in those circumstances. But certainly in my case investing in the country never worked out, even although the second house & a love hotel we had built was less that 2 km from a fn huge & I mean huge I

We bought for 35 million a lineal mt, land in the countryside is sold by this way. Three months ago we were offered 55 million a lineal mt. It was my not perceived valuation, its what we were offered.

Now that the resort has been giving the green light that price per lineal mt hopefully will increase.

Diazo wrote:

Woulda, coulda, shoulda is not cold hard cash, nor is it profit or a return on investment. I hear tell we COULD make a 1000% return next year. But then too the government has created a fund to buy up the banks non-performing loans also. Once the government buys up those loans they MUST dump them on the market. Now which property would you prefer to buy, the one from a private owner for 200k or the one for 50k from the government for the same property? Ah heck there went my great profit and now I am at a huge loss. Won’t happen here? Yeah it never happens in your own backyard. I saw many who owned 500k homes auctioned off for 80k. Now how much of a loss is that. Listen I hear you all. It is a money making machine here that defies economics reality. I must say I do not understand it... why when economies around the world crash VN keeps thriving. Someday I will understand what you all have mastered already. Those profits you CAN get next year IF you find a buyer. In the meantime you have dream profits. Good luck and I hope you make a ton. I was once a financial planner and charged big money to advice people on their investments. I quit because no one ever listens.

In 2017 we bought 3000 sqmts  near Danang for 3 billion. We sold it in 2018 for 4.5 billion, the woman who bought it sold it a year later for 6 billion. As you said its hard to fathom why, but it happens quite often here.

Places like Saigon and Ha Noi are just mindblowing with the increases taking place in such short time periods. When the new train line started construction in Saigon, investors were buying property in D9 and a week later selling it for a 100% increase. For every winner, there is a loser.

No doubt. Real estate goes through such cycles and at times euphoria. And indeed there is great money to be made if you get in at the correct end of the cycle. But investors listen to the the crowd. When the crowd is saying it is a sure bet then the the investors know it is time to get out. When the crowd is speaking gloom and doom then things are then on sale and time to buy. I knew it was time to get out when I started hearing these wonderful stories. Now world economies are collapsing And things are going on sale. It is at that time that you do not have to be an investment genius to make money. But colinscope your stories of great profits of yesteryear are great. And for certain this has taken place and does in every cycle. And it will again.  But the smart money says we are at a top and the chance now are becoming less likely. But I do not think anyone or anything will convince you. We have a saying “ pigs make money, hogs get slaughtered”. Profits in the pocket are far better then profits in a dream. Had everyone sold last year they would certainly be, for the most part happy folks. We shall see how it pans out. Hope your not the one that gets caught holding the bag. Many will. Enough said. It was great that the young man gave us good numbers to calculate his return. Again a big thanks to him.

Diazo wrote:

No doubt. Real estate goes through such cycles and at times euphoria. And indeed there is great money to be made if you get in at the correct end of the cycle. But investors listen to the the crowd. When the crowd is saying it is a sure bet then the the investors know it is time to get out. When the crowd is speaking gloom and doom then things are then on sale and time to buy. I knew it was time to get out when I started hearing these wonderful stories. Now world economies are collapsing And things are going on sale. It is at that time that you do not have to be an investment genius to make money. But colinscope your stories of great profits of yesteryear are great. And for certain this has taken place and does in every cycle. And it will again.  But the smart money says we are at a top and the chance now are becoming less likely. But I do not think anyone or anything will convince you. We have a saying “ pigs make money, hogs get slaughtered”. Profits in the pocket are far better then profits in a dream. Had everyone sold last year they would certainly be, for the most part happy folks. We shall see how it pans out. Hope your not the one that gets caught holding the bag. Many will. Enough said. It was great that the young man gave us good numbers to calculate his return. Again a big thanks to him.

There is a saying.

If financial advisors are so smart, why are they still working.

I never said I wont be convinced about the market here, just giving examples of what we have done. Most of the land we have now is long term, not short term.

Have a lovely day.

Cute saying! I suppose it only follows that if doctors are so smart why are they still working?I wonder why Warren Buffet still works. But I do see the humor in it. Me I much prefer to listen to a person not financially trained if I am seeking financial advice. Just as when I seek medical advice I talk to the grocer. Has always worked for me.

Diazo wrote:

Cute saying! I suppose it only follows that if doctors are so smart why are they still working?I wonder why Warren Buffet still works. But I do see the humor in it. Me I much prefer to listen to a person not financially trained if I am seeking financial advice. Just as when I seek medical advice I talk to the grocer. Has always worked for me.

Your comparison has no substance.

Next time dont insinutate about someone you dont know.

I have bought and sell before.. Quite encouraging. Currently still hold 2 lands and 1 condo in hand..

Would this be a good time to buy rental property here
In VN.

Diazo wrote:

Would this be a good time to buy rental property here
In VN.

Ha ha ......your a comedian, right.

I’ve seen your previous posts...you know the answer to that.😆

With the economic headwinds the world is facing,,canned food & toilet paper & tents appear to be the only thing people are wanting .

Hong Kong......now there’s some opportunities.   Those $27k per sqm shitty little apartments have got to be high on any investors list.     Get yourself a helmet ......walking the streets is dangerous.   You never know when a bankrupt property developer will drop from the sky 😆

sflxn wrote:

Ugh.  The fallacy of "throwing your money away on rent".  What about the cost of maintaining?  The cost of buying furniture and interior design.  There are all kind of costs associated with owning a home that you never get back.  The money you put into your home could be earning 7-9% a year in a Vanguard total market fund.  Would that be enough to pay for your rent?  These are the same questions I am currently dealing with.  I, too, want to buy.

9% return from Vanguard on a 300k condo is about $27k a year.  That is a lot of condo you could rent.

Amazing what a few months will do.  I wonder what sflxn would tell me to do today had I done as he suggested in January.

Yes, I am just teasing a few.

hi Tommyooi

an agent told me that foreigners can buy land by incorporating a company in Vietnam to do so with the foreigner holding 99% company ownership n assigning 1 % to a local partner, says only need to pay a few million dong every year to the tax department as lobby fee

wonder if you can comment on the above
be nice if I could learn from your experience for property investment in Vietnam

thanks n good health
zest

zest123 wrote:

hi Tommyooi

an agent told me that foreigners can buy land by incorporating a company in Vietnam to do so with the foreigner holding 99% company ownership n assigning 1 % to a local partner, says only need to pay a few million dong every year to the tax department as lobby fee

wonder if you can comment on the above
be nice if I could learn from your experience for property investment in Vietnam

thanks n good health
zest

What's your goal?
To own 99% of something or to make money sooner or later?

Yes, the former is easy, it's the latter that is the rub.

Totally different landscape now for investing in anything, everyone’s petrified as to what the final outcome will be.   

Rents in Nha Trang have dropped 50% in most places.    Brand new 2 bed,2 bath apartments for 4 mill.  A guy I know was paying 9 mill.
Upmarket apartments initially hit the market at 18 mill are now less than 10.   

But remember , these places were near EMPTY before the tourists left.  Massively overbuilt.   We were getting nearly 300,000 Chinese ,Korean & Russian tourists a month.     Now there’s nothing.....and who knows when or if anyone will come back.  Travel & holiday are words that now have a new meaning...ie,   Uncertainty, financial risk, stress, quarantine, flight delays, lockdowns etc...& who wants a “holiday” wearing a mask.


I’ve never seen so many For Sale signs on houses & For rent signs on shop fronts. Everything’s up for grabs.   There’s a guy here trying to sell 8 hotels &  there  are hundreds of hotels recently lobbed on the market.  Take a look at alonhadat.com.vn.

So if anyone’s looking for property in tourist based localities , wait & see.   You could easily end up with 99% of something worth 3 fifths of f#ck all.

There’s lots of panic around.   

And those guys north of the border are loving this......they’ll print some more money & snap up the bargains....

That’s assuming someone gets a lid on this virus thing.   If they don’t, drink up.😆

So for a condo in Vietnam you get 50 years lease but this term they say can get extended. Begs the question how can the condo ownership term get extended after 50 years?

Mangoshake wrote:

So for a condo in Vietnam you get 50 years lease but this term they say can get extended. Begs the question how can the condo ownership term get extended after 50 years?

Are you under 40 years old?  If you are over 40, you are unlikely to outlive your lease.  Do you think you will want to reside in the same apartment for 50 years, or might you consider moving to another city or just "buy up."   If you sell your apartment and buy another one, don't you start a new 50 year clock?  If you have a spouse and/or children who are Vietnamese citizens you can simply turn the property over to them.  If you have been married for 50 years, I think you can be safe to figure that your spouse will not be dumping you and selling the condo.   

sflxn wrote:

Montey La Fant wrote:

Just remember 2 things: first is the limitation, 50 years for foreigners to own a property in Vietnam, you can renew afterward but the law has just been in practice recently so no one is sure about that. second is verification, just verify all the related paperwork (usually pink book) with the ward committee.

You can buy SPA condos now.  That is 99 years.  I visited one recently that offered SPA purchases to foreigners.

How can you know its a SPA condo with a 100 years lease?

THIGV wrote:

Mangoshake wrote:

So for a condo in Vietnam you get 50 years lease but this term they say can get extended. Begs the question how can the condo ownership term get extended after 50 years?

Are you under 40 years old?  If you are over 40, you are unlikely to outlive your lease.  Do you think you will want to reside in the same apartment for 50 years, or might you consider moving to another city or just "buy up."   If you sell your apartment and buy another one, don't you start a new 50 year clock?  If you have a spouse and/or children who are Vietnamese citizens you can simply turn the property over to them.  If you have been married for 50 years, I think you can be safe to figure that your spouse will not be dumping you and selling the condo.   

My point is lets say i buy a condo here with a 50 years lease and then sell it to another foreigner after 15 years time will then the new buyer only have left 35 years? Or will new buyer get a fresh 50 years in case of a resale?